The Healthyish Feel Good Food Plan: Week Two

After week one, I was feeling pretty invested in the Feel Good Food Plan, as we had really enjoyed the recipes, they were very produce-heavy, and with sizable portions, they left me feeling full but light on my feet.

The only thing that was really tiring me out about the plan was the way that I needed to prepare the lunches. While assembling different components for mix-and-match meals makes a lot of sense, I found myself quickly growing tired of prepping all of the pieces for lunch throughout the week. Maybe it’s just because I’m so accustomed to taking dinner leftovers for lunch the next day, but it felt like a lot more work.

The lunch pictured was a combination of the massaged kale, marinated beans, roasted veggies (which I added some za’atar spice), roasted chicken and drizzled with lemon yogurt. I also added a bit of Dukkah sprinkle on top for crunch. I bought mine from Trader Joe’s, but you can learn how to make your own here.

For this recipe, they listed a few options for types of white fish that you could use, but we happened to find some Silver Corvina fish on sale at the grocery store, so we just picked that up. Next time around, I’d probably recommend using cod, halibut, or mahi mahi as that’s one of my favorites. This dish was pretty simple and very quick to make, one of the least prep-heavy of the meals. The bright acidity of the grapefruit really elevated the flaky white fish and the cabbage adds some crunch while the mint keeps it fresh.

I have to say this was one of my favorite dishes from the plan. It’s especially good if your stomach may be upset or you feel like you may be getting under the weather. You’re basically making your own garlicky-spicy chicken broth and adding copious amounts of pickled ginger in with the rice for a savory-sour taste. The rice gives some texture but the tender breast meat of the chicken makes this recipe feel very wholesome.

This recipe involved quite a bit of prep work purely because of the number of vegetables required to make it. My roommate and I both loved the cashew sauce, and have been using it with some other dishes as well. Although I will say it takes a bit of effort to make the sauce and it requires a lot of cashews which can prove to be expensive. As all the veggies are raw, there is a crisp crunch to the dish that’s pretty refreshing. I found the portion size for the noodles to be low, so just use your best judgment.

The portioning on this dinner may have been too big for us. Each person gets half of an acorn squash, which seemed to be a little much for us, and we both had some leftovers that we consolidated for a later lunch. The flavors in this are great though — the nuttiness of the tahini combined with the sweetness of the honey complement the squash well, and if you cook your egg just right, you’ll get some of that savory, gooey yolk running all over the place.

It pains me a bit to admit it, but I did not cook the final recipe in the plan. By the time the two weeks were up, I felt like I had completed a cooking marathon! Plus, the Chickpea & Celery Soup with Chile-Garlic Oil didn’t sound tempting enough to motivate me.

After the fact, I have made the turkey curry from week one again, and have incorporated some elements from the meals into my cooking. I will say I’m still recovering a bit from so much cooking, and now that school is picking up I don’t think I’d quite have the time to pull this off again, but I know that we will be incorporating some of the recipes into our routine. My top favorites would be the curry, the roasted broccoli and tofu, the confetti rice with broth, and the squash with tahini honey. (I do acknowledge that’s almost half of the recipes, but they’re so good!) Those are also the easiest to pull together on a weeknight — the others I’d still make again!